Dear the Editor, My name is Raymond Trau from the Department of Management at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. A global survey is being undertaken to assess the factors that affect the career experiences of lesbian and gay professionals. The findings of this research will contribute …

In case I don’t get the review written in time, my new favourite book with lesbian characters is Fire Logic, part of the ‘Elemental Logic’ series by Laurie J Marks. The central love story is between two women, set in a culture which seems to be flexible in it’s family structures and much lower in sexism than our own. The lesbian and gay and straight romances are woven into a story full of intuition, magic, integrity and bravery. Okay, I’m a computer nerd and like sci-fi and fantasy, which isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but really, spending some time in this world is good for the soul. I read it twice. In a row. Fortunately, the third book in the series is due out this July.

The achievements of lesbians do get reported in the news. They aren’t always labeled as or celebrated as lesbians, which is a pity, since I believe it’s credible to assume that our successes, when made public, help break down public stereotypes about lesbians. I found two recent …

Sisters in Sync is a new novice women’s dragon boat team that paddles out of Dragon Zone on False Creek in Vancouver. This team is an out, loud and proud lesbian team made up of both experienced and new paddlers.

The team was borne of musings between a few lesbian paddlers last summer in between races. A few of us, who at the time paddled in mixed teams, would talk about how wonderful it would be if there were an out lesbian team to join. After musing about this for half the summer we decided to stop looking and just start one ourselves.

We put together a flyer introducing dragon boating and talking about our vision for a lesbian team and distributed it at Pride events in the Lower Mainland. We also posted info about the team online on a local lesbian chat site, Superdyke.

In August and early September we held information sessions and over 30 women came out to hear about our vision for this team. From these sessions we got enough interested women to put together a team to paddle in the charity event, Paddle for Kids in September.

We had a blast together both on and off the water and from that day on the women were hooked. We arranged for semi-regular practice times at Dagon Zone and throughout the fall we could be found out on False Creek learning how to dragon boat together.

We now practice out of Dragon Zone twice a week with two wonderful coaches and 26 committed paddlers. This team celebrates the diversity that is our community with paddlers of a broad age range (from 29 to 69 years old), from many different backgrounds, and abilities.

Dragon boating has given us the opportunity to combine our various strengths and skills to build something truly powerful. In this, our first full race season, we are entered in four regattas and two festivals. In our first regatta we placed third in the women’s division. With each race we paddle we improve our time, realize what we need to work on and, most importantly, have a ton of fun on the water with a boat full of dykes.

Paddles up!

If you are interested in any further information on this exciting new team please contact our team captain, Jennifer Breakspear at 778.991.3276 or paddlingwithpride@gmail.com

Dreamweaver presents our 7th Annual Women’s Pride Celebration. Sunday August 5th, 2007 7pm-midnight Dance the night away with DJ Susan Y at the Vancouver Rowing Club in Stanley Park. The balcony provides the most spectacular views in Vancouver, just minutes from downtown. Every year this …

Thanks to all who joined us for a fabulous dance on Saturday and thank you for your generous support of the Fraser Valley Youth Society. We have just one more dance in Aldergrove before taking a summer break. Come join us on June 23 at …

I was sitting in one of my favourite restaurants, a little diner within walking distance of my house called Docker’s Diner. Joanne Agreometros, the owner, came by as usual to chat with my wife Jeanette and I and we got talking about how she started the place. “My friends thought I was nuts.” she said. She had twelve years of experience in her field and they thought she should just get another job.

The first two years were hardest. The location, in one of the oldest parts of the city, with cobblestone streets and heritage brick buildings nearby, has a lot of charm but as yet, low foot traffic, being surrounded mostly by factories and industrial use buildings.

Joanne has made this difficulty into an asset by building community. One summer, Joanne went around personally to all the businesses in the area and introduced herself. She buys her ingredients where possible from local butchers and grocers and doesn’t mind if customers bring in a cup of coffee from nearby JJ Beans. Her casual style diner has become a favourite among the construction workers and longshoremen in the area, so much so that she has to do refinishing work on the floor every summer to recover from a winter of workboots.

Four years after opening, Docker’s is thriving. The retro-style diner is clean and well-managed, open from 7am to 3 pm. Joanne, a straight woman, is definitely lesbian friendly, and reserved a table for breakfast for our wedding party the morning of our wedding last year.

Talking to Joanne got me thinking about all the great women-owned businesses I know of so I started asking around for recommendations. Here’s what I’ve got so far. I invite you to add your recommendations below.

Jessica Brown, a traditional chinese medicine and registered acupuncturist, has a practice in New Westminster and was recommended by her wife Kirn.

The Dragon and Unicorn was recommended by Carol Stewart – “Jackson Berger and her partner Kathy Lewis have The Dragon and Unicorn Farm in Roberts Creek on the Sunshine Coast. It is a 4 acre rhododendron farm and art gallery. Kathy is a surperb woodworker. They are also very active raising funds and paddling for the Breast Cancer Dragon Boats. 2348 Sunshine Coast Highway, Roberts Creek.”

Carol notes that “I read the local weekly paper and found that one person has complained that Dragon and Unicorn is contravening an old bylaw that states a home-based business must only sell things they actually produce themselves. Their gallery promotes local artists and artisans. It seems that only one complaint is enough to stop the business! Many people are supporting Kathy and Jackson; I hope they will be given special permission to continue. In the meantime, any publicity or awards will surely help. ”

The Rhizome Cafe, owned by life-partners Lisa Moore and Vinetta Lenavat, profiled last quarter. They’re just completing their first year of business and are a great cafe that could use your support – I suggest people go in and eat lots of their good food. Their weekend brunches are my favourite.

The Roundel Cafe – On Hastings just west of Nanaimo, the Roundel has been purchased and re-opened by new owners Dena Sananin and husband Mick. The atomosphere, food and pricing is a tiny bit upscale of the usual east side diner cafe, but includes free-range eggs and fancier salads along with vegetarian classics like tofu scramble and homemade veggie burgers. She also gets her supplies in the neighbourhood.

Other great women-owned businesses include Commercial Drive’s – Sophie’s Pet Palace (lesbian owned) – which sells pet food and supplies. Mary Brooks, the owner, was sponsor of the Sophie’s Bitches softball team in Vancouver’s lesbian Mabel League. It’s All Fun and Games in the next block is owned by two women and sells a nice selection of quality children’s toys and books. Urban Empire sells lots of kitchy and irreverent items from rubber chickens, political buttons and the Rosie the Riveter action figure pictured above. Of course there are also the lesbian-owned and women-owned businesses already mentioned or profiled in Lesbian Quarterly.